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KLW resumes trading after change in major shareholder

Shares of KLW Holdings will resume trading on Thursday after the furniture maker announced a change in its largest substantial shareholder.

PHOTO: ST FILE

SHARES of KLW Holdings will resume trading on Thursday after the furniture maker announced a change in its largest substantial shareholder.

Managing director Lee Boon Teck on Aug 26 sold 980.4 million shares for S$4 million, or about 0.41 Singapore cents per share, in a married deal that pared his stake in the company to just 0.1 per cent.

KLW shares last traded at 1.1 Singapore cents.

The shares were sold to businessman Quek Chek Lan, who now holds a direct and deemed 19.4 per cent stake in KLW. Although his stake is below the 30 per cent trigger for a mandatory general offer, Mr Quek was described by KLW as its "new controlling shareholder".

KLW said Mr Lee will remain as managing director of the company and ensure the completion of an ongoing special audit.

In the meantime, the independent directors of the company have been authorised as co-signatories for cheques and significant cash transfers.

Mr Quek has told the board of KLW that he plans to restructure the board composition.

This is not Mr Quek's first foray into KLW. He first made headlines as a substantial shareholder of KLW in March 2002 when his private vehicle, Aetna, bought enough shares on the open market to hold an 11.22 per cent stake in the company. In an apparent change of heart, Aetna sold all its shares just months later, in November 2002.

Mr Quek re-emerged as one of the top 20 shareholders of KLW as of March 2011, according to the company's annual report.